With planning for the 2020 event season fast approaching, adding ‘a carbon neutral event’ to the to-do list might seem like a pipe dream.
However, when planning the Building Climate Resilience event held in October 2019, this challenge proved easier than first expected.
Caroline Welsh, BCG Executive Director at the time, was part of the delivery team and said “[the Carbon Neutral Team in the Department of Energy and Environment are] were really helpful. The process was relatively pretty simple, [and] developing a relationship with the Carbon Neutral Team has been really worthwhile.”
The official certification process is administered by the Federal Department of Energy and Environment and is assessed to the National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS). Certification is available to organisations, events, precincts, products, services and buildings
The first step in the process is to determine the scope of the certification you are applying for. If this is for an event, then the scope will include the number of days your event will run for and the expected attendance.
Next, you will need to purchase a licence agreement between the event organisers and the Department of Energy and Environment, which must be paid upfront with your application, to be able to use the carbon neutral trademark.
Finally, you will have to prepare and submit a report to assess the expected carbon output of the event and how these will be offset by purchasing carbon offsets. An excel file and a word template are provided by the Department of Energy and Environment to make this process more straightforward.
More details on running a carbon neutral event, including a full recording of Caroline’s presentation at the October Building Climate Resilience Event in Birchip, can be found here.
